


Hideable Marks

by HisokaXLove



Series: More than Skin Deep [2]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Beware, Getting Together, M/M, SO, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, There is drinking, soulmate!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:05:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5418164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisokaXLove/pseuds/HisokaXLove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the Soulmate AU where the thoughts of your soulmate appear in writing on your body when you turn 16. This is part two, in which Kurapika finally meets back up with his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Hope They Don't Read It

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is told mainly from the perspective of Kurapika, and focuses heavily on LeoPika. If you have not read my KilluGon prequel, I suggest you do before starting this :) Enjoy
> 
> Rating will go up in later chapters.

Kurapika couldn’t help thinking how cute Gon and Leorio were. They were both so stubborn and blunt. He missed having conversations with people where he did not have to worry about ulterior motives, or what people were thinking. It was always fairly obvious what these two were thinking. Killua was a little more of a mystery, but not by much. He was an alright liar, but he became flustered too easily when confronted. That was always cute to see too. Right now Kurapika couldn’t help noticing that he was a little bit rigid. Maybe he had the same thoughts about the tattoos that Kurapika did, and set little in store by them.

 

“You can see me better than I can Leorio. And anyways, where are _your_ words?”

 

Kurapika felt himself tense up, his stomach fluttering. He felt a little bit sick. Leorio mumbled something about the back of his thigh while Kurapika focused intensely on the glass of water in front of him.

 

He felt himself relax a little, although he couldn’t really tell why. Leorio just seemed to have a way of getting to him. His words had more impact than other peoples’. He relaxed even more as Killua began teasing Leorio, calling his tattoo an “ass tat.” He had missed his friends. They should get together like this more often.

 

Relieved that no one had asked him about his tattoo, Kurapika happily offered his two cents when Gon confessed to thinking that the tattoos were supposed to direct you to your soulmate.

 

“Gon I don’t think the tattoo is supposed to tell you who to be with. It just lets you know when you’re right. Very few people have a tattoo on their bodies that is easy to look at casually, and even if they did, it would be weird to just go around checking your arm in the middle of conversations and asking people about it. When you love someone, it just works. The tattoo just makes sure you don’t miss it. Or choose the wrong person. You, unlike most people, have incredible instincts, and I bet that when you meet the right girl, you’ll just know.” Gon just nodded pensively.

_He’s going to make someone very happy one day_ , Kurapika thought, smiling to himself.

 

* * *

 

 

“I mean, it would be great if it were some sort of homing beacon that could direct you to your soulmate,” Kurapika was saying, “but that’s not how it works. More often than not, people find their soulmate and then use the tattoos just to check and be sure.”

 

Leorio was silent.

 

Kurapika paid very little mind to soulmate tattoos. It just didn’t apply to him. Even if he had time to go search for his own soulmate right now, he wouldn’t. It would be too much danger to put them in, being associated with him.

 

Besides, he didn’t really think much of the tattoos anyways. Having someone else’s thoughts on your skin was manageable, but the idea that his thoughts were inscribing themselves onto someone else, for them to read whenever… That was a big breach of privacy, in his opinion. He only hoped that his soulmate’s tattoo was somewhere hidden. There were many unfortunate people, their waitress at the restaurant included, that had the misfortune of having their soul mate’s thoughts appear in very visible places. In her case, there was a line of messy letters, constantly writing and erasing themselves from her left cheek.

 

Kurapika remembered staring off into the distance, a passive participant in the group’s conversation, watching the busboy clear an adjacent table, when their waitress had come back to see if they needed anything. Kurapika was in the middle of politely declining her, when the busboy dropped several dishes which promptly shattered on the floor. Their waitress looked over to the man and then back to Kurapika. It was difficult not to stare as the words on her cheek erased themselves and reappeared.

 

 _Fucking slippery plates_. Kurapika almost gaped at her, before politely sending her away. It was none of his business, but the busboy was clearly the one thinking up the words on her cheek. Kurapika thought they made a cute couple.

 

Walking with Leorio away from the restaurant, he told him as much.

 

“The waitress and the busboy?” Leorio was surprised enough to break his pensive silence. It was unlike him to have been quiet for so long, but Kurapika was feeling uncharacteristically talkative himself, and didn’t really mind.

 

“Yeah, you didn’t notice?” Kurapika was not surprised.

 

“No…” Leorio looked forward again, quieting down once more. The blonde was just about to ask Leorio if something was the matter when the doctor spoke up once more, words coming out rather quickly. “Hey, do you want to get something to drink? I know a really great bar nearby, and… Well I mean really great for a bar I guess, and if you’re not tired or anything we could… I mean only if you want to--”

 

Kurapika laughed cutting him off. “Yeah Leorio, let’s get a drink.” Was it his imagination, or did Leorio look a little flushed?

 

The doctor brightened up somewhat after that and began to talk about the bars the all of the med students went to. Apparently, nobody ever slept in med school.

 

Kurapika listened to him talk for the remainder of their walk to the bar. It was soothing to hear Leorio go on about things that he cared about. He had a way of making you feel like you were part of the story, and not just someone listening in.

 

When they reached the bar, it was still only about 8 o’clock in the evening so the bar was fairly empty. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, though, as some places often do when they’re not full of people. Instead, it felt… homey. The whole building was a weird shape so that, although the bar itself was rather large, almost none of the space was out in the open. Leorio ordered them both drinks (a beer for himself and a mojito for Kurapika) and then led him down a walkway to the left of the bar, into a room that Kurapika hadn’t noticed before. They settled into a semi-private circular booth on the edge of the room.

 

“You come here often then?” Kurapika couldn’t help but notice that his friend knew his way around the bar.

 

Leorio colored slightly. “Uhh, yeah I mean I haven’t been here in a while but it doesn’t seem to have really changed at all. It’s a nice place.”

 

“It is,” Kurapika agreed. He sipped his mojito before adding “I’m glad I got to see you. It’s been a long time since we’ve all gotten together.” He felt a flutter in his stomach at voicing that aloud, but he ignored it. It was true, and he wanted Leorio to know it. To know that he hadn’t been ignoring everyone because he didn’t want to see them, but because he was busy, and it was dangerous to be around him.

 

Leorio definitely colored at that, and took a large sip of his beer.

 

* * *

 

 

Two hours later, he and Leorio were still in their booth, albeit with more empty beer bottles and mojito glasses on the table. The bar had also filled up somewhat, and now there was chatter to be heard over the soft music. Fortunately though, they had no trouble hearing each other.

 

Leorio was animatedly telling a story about a time in med school where his friend had attempted to steal medical equipment in order to carve a pumpkin for Halloween. Kurapika, for his part, was being an excellent listener. He oohed and ahhed in all of the right places and by the end of the story, he found himself giggling uncontrollably, nearly falling over onto Leorio who was seated on his right.

 

When he regained his composure, he straightened himself up and looked at Leorio. The man seemed fairly pleased with himself. And to be honest, somewhat drunk.

 

“I missed you.” The words came out of Kurapika’s mouth before they could pass through his mental filter. He blushed. Leorio may have blushed as well, although his face was fairly red already so it was difficult to tell.

 

“Me too, Pika.” They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, before Leorio looked up at him and interrupted it. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

 

Kurapika felt a squirming in his gut, and a sense of foreboding, but he nodded anyways.

 

“What about your soulmate?”

 

The squirming intensified. “What _about_ them?”

 

Leorio looked uncomfortable, and was nervously peeling the label off of his beer. “Well, I mean… Aren’t you looking for them? Don’t you look at your tattoo for… Clues or whatever?”

 

“No,” Kurapika responded shortly.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because, I wouldn’t want to put them in danger,” he said, parroting his constant internal monologue. “And it feels like an invasion of privacy to read someone else’s thoughts.”

 

“Maybe…” Leorio had gone even more red, if that was possible. “Maybe they don’t care about the danger.”

 

Kurapika suddenly felt warm inside. Giddy almost. Nonetheless, he replied with as much seriousness as possible. “I care about the danger, Leorio. I wouldn’t want to put someone else in this sort of position.”

 

“Don’t you think _they_ should get to decide that?” Kurapika just stared at him. This whole conversation was making him uncomfortable.

 

“I’m just saying that maybe…” Kurapika felt a hand on his and looked down to see Leorio pulling his hand into the middle space between them. “Maybe love is worth it.”

 

Kurapika looked up to see Leorio determinedly not meeting his gaze. He felt hot all of the sudden, and his thumb began moving of its own accord, stroking the back of Leorio’s hand. He didn’t know how to answer. He knew he was right about this, and he was not about to put anyone else in danger, but he was afraid to say that as it might cause Leorio to let go of him. He opted to not say anything at all, and instead scooted closer to Leorio, and laid his head on the larger man’s shoulder. The tension between them was palpable.

 

After a moment of silence, Leorio spoke again. “Can I ask something else?”

 

Kurapika hummed in response. His hand was now back in his lap, stroking Leorio’s.

 

“Where is your tattoo?”

 

Had he been any less drunk, he no doubt would have told Leorio that it was private. But because he was several mojitos in, and apparently a raving lunatic, he looked up and caught Leorio’s eye.

  
“Wanna see?”


	2. Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika is not one to back down from a challenge. Especially one he got himself into. And Very Especially not one involving an incredibly handsome doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I wanna apologize for taking SO LONG to update. I posted the first chapter right before moving countries, and it's been a long time to get settled. Anyways, I promise I won't take so long on the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> If you wanna chat LeoPika (or any hxh) you can find me at Hisokaxlove.tumblr.com
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! :)
> 
> BTW this is not beta-read so sorry for any mistakes.

Leorio sputtered for a moment, as Kurapika watched. After a minute, he managed to eek out a “yeah,” and Kurapika scooted away, grabbing his hand to pull him along.

 

“What-- Where are we going?” Leorio looked as though he was in danger of collapsing as he was lead through the bar. Kurapika looked back at him.

 

“I’m not going to take my clothes off here,” he said, now thoroughly enjoying watching Leorio come undone.

 

“You’re-- You’re not--” Leorio’s eyes widened.

 

Kurapika tried hard not to laugh at his expression. He pulled Leorio out of the front door of the bar and turned to face him. “You live close by, right? Can we go there?”

 

“Yeah, we-- Sure, yeah.” Kurapika smiled at the amazed look on Leorio’s face, but he was not one to beat around the bush (or dawdle on the curb) so he quickly hailed a taxi and pulled Leorio into it with him. Leorio seemed to still be a dazed. When the taxi driver asked “where to?” Kurapika had to poke him to get his attention.

 

A short cab ride, and a flight of stairs later, they found themselves outside of an apartment, in a fairly nice building. Kurapika supposed that Leorio had a fair bit of money now, but it was still surprisingly classy. It took a few tries for Leorio to insert the key into the lock. That said, he seemed considerably more sober now that he had gotten some fresh air, and the quietness and good lighting of the apartment was much less dizzying.

 

The inside of his apartment was fairly nice too, although you could tell that Leorio lived there from the books strewn out across the kitchen counter, and the dishes left on the coffee table, which Leorio hastened to clean up, muttering apologies about the state of his apartment. Kurapika didn’t mind. Leorio’s mess was kind of endearing. It was messy rather than dirty, which made it homey, rather than disgusting.

 

He wandered around the living room for a moment looking at the trinkets up on the shelves, until he came across a photo of the two of them, along with Killua and Gon from several years ago. He looked at it for a moment, reminiscing, before turning back to Leorio, who was eyeing him nervously from the doorway to the kitchen.

 

“I like it,” Kurapika said. Leorio gave him a bewildered look, so he clarified. “Your apartment. It’s nice.”

 

“Oh, thanks.”

 

“It’s been a while since I lived anywhere permanent.”

 

“... I figured.” Leorio was twitching nervously now, and it took a moment for Kurapika to realize why.

 

He had just offered to come over and take his clothes off.

 

It had seemed like a much less intimidating task when he was saying it impulsively at the bar only minutes ago, but now, even with the rather dim lighting in the apartment, he felt…. visible. He could back down. He could pretend he was joking, or steer the conversation to some other, safer subject. _Safe_. Kurapika was never safe. The thought lodged in his mind and he remembered that he was not one to back down after he’d given his word.

 

He cautiously took a step toward the couch and pulled his suit jacket off and slung it over the arm of the couch. As he moved to untuck his shirt a small choked noise came from where Leorio was still standing in the doorway. Kurapika looked up at him questioningly, but the man was staring at his stomach and didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Leorio.” The brunette started, and looked up at him, turning red in the face when he realized that Kurapika had been staring at him. “Did you not want to see my tattoo? I thought that’s why we were here.”

 

Leorio turned an even darker crimson as he stuttered out a response.

 

“No- Yeah, Kurapika- Yes I wanted to see it, I just…” He trailed off, averting his gaze.

 

Kurapika was suddenly seized with the desire to have Leorio looking him in the eye, and he quickly stepped in closer, until he was standing right in front of the man, looking up at him. Leorio started, his still fairly drunk brain catching up with what had just happened. He stared into Kurapika’s eyes for a moment and opened and closed his mouth several times, looking like a fish out of water. The blonde giggled. He had always liked seeing Leorio flustered. It was so opposite his usual demeanor of loudness and grandeur.

 

Leorio started to say something indignant, surely reprimanding the blonde for his giggle, until he noticed that Kurapika’s hands were moving. First they undid the knot on his own tie, and then they moved to the top button of his shirt, undoing each button quickly and moving on lower. It was surprising how deft his fingers were, considering how much alcohol he had already consumed.

 

Meanwhile, the brunette seemed to be struggling to get out any words at all. Though it seemed he did have some specific ones in mind from the way he was stuttering. Finally when Kurapika was only two buttons from the bottom, he managed a raspy “Where?” after which he promptly cleared his throat, looking embarrassed and turned his head to the side.

 

Kurapika paused. “My words?” Leorio nodded. “I’ll show you.” He grabbed the brunette by the hand and pulled him over to the couch, pushing him down onto it in order to get a more level playing field, height-wise. He finished undoing the last two buttons on his shirt, and pulled it open to show just the very tops of a tattoo peeking out of his pants. The tops of the letters were quickly disappearing and reappearing, rearranging themselves into new words, but Kurapika wasn’t looking. He was watching Leorio’s face turn an even darker red than he thought possible as he looked at the hemline of the blonde’s pants.

 

Slowly, as though he wasn’t really aware of what he was doing, he reached out a hand to feel the tattooed skin. At his touch, Kurapika felt his breath hitch. Leorio heard it and looked up as though suddenly realizing that there was a person attached to this midriff, and stared at Kurapika, who was now breathing heavily, without moving his hand. Kurapika felt himself blushing under the scrutiny. Nevertheless, he moved into the touch and watched as Leorio’s breath unconsciously quickened.

 

The blonde moved in closer, until he was touching the edge of the couch, standing in between Leorio’s legs.

 

“Can- can I…?” The brunette was looking up at Kurapika’s face, but his hands were trailing lower, nearly dipping into the waistband of his pants. Kurapika nodded, a little frantically.

 

Leorio pulled down the waistband of his pants in order to see his words and left his pants riding dangerously low as he moved his hands up Kurapika’s hips underneath his open shirt. It was then that the blonde realized with a jolt that he was hard. Embarrassingly hard. Obviously hard. Fortunately, Leorio seemed completely consumed with watching his words rearrange themselves rapidly on his skin. Kurapika was too scared, and too captivated by Leorio’s expression to look down at what was being written, but he decided that it didn't particularly matter. He wanted Leorio, and he wanted him now. There was no room for anything else.

 

“Fuck…” Leorio muttered under his breath, before quickly dipping his head down to kiss along the blonde’s midriff. He grabbed Kurapika tightly, and the blonde swayed, realizing again that he was not very sober. In an executive decision, Kurapika pushed Leorio back into the couch and climbed atop him, straddling his hips.

 

A second later they were kissing. They seemed to have completely skipped pecks, and gone straight to open mouthed-panting kisses, feeling their tongues slide against each other. Kurapika felt warmth pooling between them, suffocating, as though the air was filling with natural gas and and one spark could set it all off.

 

He received that spark a moment later when Leorio ground up lightly into him, hands on his hips. He gasped, breaking the kiss to bury his face in Leorio’s neck. The brunette rocked up into him again, and he suddenly found himself kissing and licking and biting Leorio, venturing up to his earlobe only to move back down and start to take off his shirt.

 

Leorio paused his movement for a moment to remove Kurapika’s shirt as well and then moved back to just stare at him for a moment. Kurapika had an idea of how he looked. Totally debauched. Breathless. Leorio looked the same way.

 

Then their hands were back on each other. Leorio was kissing across his chest, rubbing his hands anywhere they could reach. Without warning, he moved to swipe his tongue across Kurapika’s nipple, and the blonde felt himself make a guttural noise that he would have been embarrassed about in any other situation.

 

Leorio did it again. Kurapika moaned.

 

Soon it was all too much, and Kurapika found himself pulling back enough to growl at the brunette.

 

“Take your pants off.”

 

Leorio’s eyes grew wide and his face colored even more, but instead of complying he stood up holding Kurapika against him, and carried him into the bedroom.

 

Before Kurapika could even make a judgement on the state of the room, he was being thrown down onto the bed. He stared up at Leorio, momentarily entranced by the man who was undoing his belt, until he realized with a jolt that he should be doing the same.

 

Once completely naked (and blushing like crazy) Leorio climbed on top of him, sliding his legs in between the blonde’s. Kurapika couldn’t help the little “ah!” that popped out of him as he felt their lengths slide together.

 

“Fuck, ‘Pika, oh my god-” Leorio was grinding them together, punctuating his words with little nibbles on the blonde’s neck. Kurapika lifted his legs to wrap around Leorio’s middle and ground up into him.

 

They were both dripping with pre-cum. When Leorio reached around to jerk them together, they slid together easily.

 

“You have no idea-” Leorio was growing more and more incoherent as the tension built in his stomach, “how long I’ve wanted to do this- ah-”

 

Why did that make Kurapika’s heart stutter? He could feel himself getting closer, and he tried to tell Leorio.

 

“Leo- ah! Leorio- I’m so- I’m so close-” Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. He was scratching at Leorio’s back, moaning “ _please, please, ah! Don’t stop!_ ”

 

He saw stars and suddenly he was coming, Leorio milking him through it. It was so much more intense than anything he’d ever done to himself. As he came down from his high, it registered that he had been talking, chanting Leorio’s name and whatever else he may have said. Leorio came soon after, collapsing on top of the blonde. It was a little bit suffocating and a little bit gross but so reassuring, that he wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tight.

  
He was just drifting off to sleep when he felt Leorio push himself up and he whined softly at the loss. The brunette just chuckled however, and mumbled something about coming back, so Kurapika let it go. He heard the water come on somewhere, and soon he felt a warm towel, wiping down his overly sensitive skin. He curled himself into a ball and right before he fell asleep, he felt a warm presence wrap itself around him and mumble something softly. For the first time in years, he finally felt completely calm. _Safe_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it :)
> 
> Again, you can find me at Hisokaxlove.tumblr.com and comments are always appreciated! :)
> 
> I don't have a beta-reader, so sorry for any mistakes.


	3. Out of the Bed and into the Frying Pan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after and past-Leorio POV :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yet again I take eons too long to update a fic. Sorry for all of you who were waiting! There is more to this fic and I do plan to continue it. You can come chat with me on my tumblr if you like :)
> 
> hisokaxlove.tumblr.com

It was a Friday night and Leorio had been twisting in front of the mirror to get a better look at his tattoo. He hadn’t really bothered with it much before now, mostly because it was usually unreadable. Even if he was able to twist around enough to see his tattoo in the mirror, it would be backwards, and most of the time in some other language. Lately, though, he felt as though he was missing something. He knew why. 

 

Kurapika would not return his phone calls. 

 

Intellectually, he knew that the man was busy, and that he was likely not ignoring Leorio because he didn’t want to talk to him, but… It still hurt. Kurapika was brash and unforgiving, but Leorio had grown used to having him in his life. 

 

But now he wasn’t answering his calls.

 

After the debacle in Yorknew, Leorio had given his number to Kurapika, and gotten his number in return, which gave him hope that they would keep in more contact this time, even though they had to part ways again. He was wrong.

 

It had happened slowly, but Kurapika had stopped answering his calls. He seemed to be getting more and more tired with each call, and Leorio had lectured him various times about the importance of eating properly and sleeping enough, although he suspected it wasn’t really doing any good. And then, finally, Kurapika had stopped answering his phone altogether. Leorio resorted to texting him, constantly and consistently, reminding him to eat, telling him about when he talked to Gon and Killua. He wasn’t even sure that Kurapika still had the phone. Maybe he had gotten rid of it.

 

Being cut off like that left a hole in Leorio’s heart, and he slowly began to realize that what he felt for Kurapika probably could not be filed only under “friendship feelings,” a realization that hit him over the head and knocked him out cold. As time went on, and he felt no less heartbroken, he began to call Killua and Gon to ask for news of Kurapika, but they hadn’t had any either. 

 

Then, one Friday night, he was coming out of the shower when he caught a glimpse of black in the mirror. His tattoo. Out of curiosity, he twisted around to get a better look, and saw words. Words that he could read! He squinted at them, watching them rearrange themselves, before coming to a halt.  _ Eyes must be on the upper floor _ . 

 

Leorio nearly fell over. That must be a mistake. He waited with bated breath for the ink to disappear and rearrange itself again.

 

_ Could call Melody about it _ .

 

_ Oh _ , he thought, sinking down to sit naked on his bathroom floor,  _ well he’s alive _ .

* * *

 

When Kurapika came to, he felt as though he had been run over by a garbage truck. Or perhaps he had a liquor store dropped on him.

 

He was not used to drinking so heavily, usually thinking that it was unsafe to be so exposed for so long. What if he got attacked? Leorio had a way of changing his perspective on things though.

 

_ Leorio _ .

 

If Kurapika had had any more energy, he would have bolted straight up. 

 

He was  _ naked _ .

 

In  _ Leorio’s  _ bed.

 

He felt a little bit ashamed of himself for letting his guard down so easily: all it had taken was some mojitos and a nearby apartment. But as all of the memories from last night flooded back to him, he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset about it. Even though he had ( _ oh my God _ ) straight up offered to come back to Leorio’s apartment and take his clothes off. Not even innuedo. 

 

With great effort, Kurapika sat up and blearily scanned the room. Leorio was nowhere to be seen and although he hadn’t gotten a very good look at the room last night, he suspected for some reason that the man had cleaned it before the blonde had woken up. Unable to locate his clothes from last night, and unwilling to leave the room naked, Kurapika wrapped a blanket around himself, and opened up drawers at random until he found a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt, both of which ran long on him.

 

He half expected Leorio to not be there, to have gone to class or something and maybe have left him a note, but when he pushed open the bedroom door and zombie-walked into the kitchen, he found Leorio chopping vegetables with intense vigor. He started when Kurapika stepped up next to him. 

 

“Are you making… an omelet?” He asked around a yawn.

 

“I’m making two omelets.” The brunette said with a smile. “What do you want on yours?”

 

“Anything just- … Not so loud.” Kurapika walked around to the small table in the kitchen and sat down, laying his head in his hands. A second later, a glass of water and an aspirin were put in front of him, which he gulped down with great effort.

 

“Thanks.”

 

He listened to Leorio hum while cooking, asking him the occasional question about an ingredient to which Kurapika would groan unintelligibly, until the man finished cooking and set down two plates on the table. He tried to swoop in for a kiss before sitting down himself, but Kurapika stopped him.

 

“My mouth tastes like someone died in it, Leorio.”

 

Leorio just laughed, much too chipper to be as hungover as he should have been, and sat down to eat his breakfast.

 

“I think I have a spare toothbrush if you want it.”

 

Kurapika hummed in response. “Thanks. Do you know where my clothes are? I had to borrow yours.”

 

“Your- Uhh- Oh yes, I put them in the wash. They should be done soon, sorry.” Leorio was blushing, apparently having only just realized that the blonde was wearing his clothes, and speaking way too quickly. Kurapika could not possibly imagine why this would be embarrassing, seeing as they had slept together last night, but he decided not to press it. He didn’t have the energy. 

 

But as his brain woke up, Kurapika started to think things through more carefully. Everything that they had done up till now seemed to be acceptable for what he was calling “One Night Stand Territory,” but was that what this was? And what would he do when he left here? He had finished collecting all of his brethren’s eyes, but it was still far from safe for him to be near Leorio like this. In fact, what they had done last night was pretty unsafe too. Kurapika tried to quiet the part of himself that wanted to snuggle back up in bed with Leorio and watch bad TV all day, and focus on the rational part of himself that was trying to decide what to say to Leorio about this whole thing. Maybe he didn’t need to say anything. Maybe Leorio thought that this was a one night stand and this is what he did for all of the other people he brought over. Despite what happened last night, Leorio was a pretty girl-crazy, guy. Maybe making omelets and washing clothes was routine for him by now. He was just a nice guy.

 

“Pikaaaa~ Earth to ‘Pika!”

 

Kurapika snapped out of his internal monologue to find the brunette staring at him and waving a fork.

 

“Not a good omelet?” Leorio looked apologetic.

 

“What? No- I mean yes- It’s very good. I was just… ” He trailed off. He was not awake enough right now to be having all of these thoughts and a conversation. 

 

“Thinking about something?” Leorio offered helpfully, prodding Kurapika into give him an answer. 

 

Kurapika answered without thinking. “How many girls do you bring back here?’

 

Leorio almost choked on his egg.

 

“What?!”

 

“Nothing. Nevermind. I was just-”

 

Leorio interrupted his backtracking. “Are you upset with me?”

 

“No!” Kurapika answered too quickly. “I mean- No I’m definitely not, I was just- Umm… Curious? It doesn’t matter.”

 

It looked like Leorio was going to drop it, until he chewed through another bite of egg, and mumbled “no one for a while.”

 

Why did that make Kurapika feel warm inside? He immediately dispelled the thought. This was bad news, right? This meant that maybe Leorio was not just going to let this go. Kurapika’s stomach churned, and it had nothing to do with the, frankly heavenly, omelet.

 

When he didn’t answer, Leorio got up to get his clothes out of the dryer, and get a toothbrush for Kurapika, while the blonde finished his eggs. Afterwords, he dressed quickly, assuring Leorio that he could shower back at his hotel room, and gathered his things to leave.

 

Leorio stopped him as he walked towards the door. 

 

“You’re not going to disappear again are you? I’m going to see you again?” He looked as though he wanted to say something else, but couldn’t quite manage it.

 

Kurapika looked down and away from him. “I won’t disappear again. But- Ummm… I can’t… put you in danger.” The words sounded so hollow, even to his own ears. 

 

“What if I don’t care about the danger?” That got Kurapika to look up at him. 

 

“I do.” He said with finality. He was tired of being the only one who understood what danger meant. Mumbling a quick ‘ _ I’ll talk to you later, _ ’ he pushed passed Leorio and walked out the door, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye at the crestfallen look on Leorio’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was a little depressing, but it was pretty necessary for plot. Hope you enjoyed it anyways!
> 
> As always, this is not beta-read, so let me know if there are any mistakes.

**Author's Note:**

> This was not beta-read so let me know if there are any mistakes. Reviews are appreciated :)
> 
> You can also come talk to me at my blog: hisokaxlove.tumblr.com


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